Seconding audacity + device that looks like USB sound card. It does the D2A onboard, so you don't have stupid Linux sound driver du jour disasters [1].
I have a cheapo turntable that looks like a USB sound card and Audacity works great, notwithstanding the need to babysit it when recording. (You have to tell it to start and then run over and press play, and then when the tape stops, stop recording. There might be software to detect silences, but tape hiss can defeat it, as can your collection of studio covers of John Cage's 4'33", and when there are drops in the middle of a song, like in _Intergalactic_, the automatic silence detection will kick in, and hard things are hard. This isn't bad for a single recording, but for a whole library, it gets old. It's possible that this is no longer the case, in which case I would be delighted to hear about it.) I do not recommend using the line in, mic in, or other analog inputs to your computer. The better control from the more powerful processor is offset by both the sound driver problems mentioned and also by the typically disastrous support for analog line in I've experienced with Linux. (I think the last time analog mic in worked for me under Linux was in 2001. Since then, analog mic in has never recorded anything but silence. This might be an ALSA problem, since I think 2001 was around the time of the last gasps of OSS, but even then, since everyone uses ALSA somewhere in their audio stack these days, it's still a problem.) Ben [1] Slackware just moved to PulseAudio by default, because heck, everyone else tried that 10 years ago, and apparently Bluez wants it now, and so nothing works anymore, because PulseAudio is terrible. Straight-up ALSA still works great, and once you do a PA-ectomy, everything starts to work again, but anyway, get off my lawn. -- Ben Stern This space intentionally left blank. On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 08:21:37AM -0400, Moshe M. Katz wrote: > I did extensive research a number of years ago into these for a site I run > that distributes audio lectures, and I have multiple different models of > tape to MP3 converters. > > Almost all of the USB ones just show up to the computer as a USB sound card. > > As it happens, my brother has that exact model (with a different brand name > on it, but they're all made by the same company), and can confirm that it > shows up as a sound card (on Windows; I've never actually tried it on > Linux). > > I strongly suspect that it will work on Linux, because there aren't all > that many different audio chips floating around out there. > > In terms of software, the bundled CD just contains a copy of Audacity > <http://www.audacityteam.org/>, which you should have no trouble getting > for yourself. There is no special control software of any kind. > > Honestly, I prefer the sound quality from my Plusdeck2c > <http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/gadgets/ipods-and-portable-audio/cassette-players/plusdeck2c-pc-cassette-deck-79024/review> > over > the sound quality of the USB model, but the Plusdeck is no longer available > (for reasonable prices anyway; though occasionally they show up on eBay), > and most cassette tapes weren't such incredible quality to start with. (The > nicest thing about the Plusdeck was that it did have special software and a > Serial port that it used to control and query status. However, that > wouldn't work on Linux anyway, unless you wrote your own software.) > > > Moshe > > -- > Moshe Katz > mmk...@umd.edu > (301) 867-3732 > > > On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 7:30 AM, Judah Milgram <milg...@cgpp.com> wrote: > >> A question to liven up the dog days of summer. >> >> I'm considering solutions to convert some cassette tapes to MP3. Turns out >> for not a lot of money you can get something that converts directly, see >> for example >> >> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018WBUJBS >> >> The question is... Linux? >> >> Some put the MP3's directly on a flash drive, and I guess that's a good >> bet. >> >> But others seem to require connection to a computer... is it likely that >> that they send a digital stream over the cable? And if so... is it likely >> to be set-uppable on Linux? >> >> -- >> Judah Milgram >> milg...@cgpp.com >> 301-257-7069
